Basic issues of Social Recruiting

It’s all over the Hiring Industry; loads of reports, data, and analysis have been made about Recruitment via Social Media. Well, I would not like to burden you with more of such information and have no plans to also sell the concept of Social Recruiting. All I’m planning to do is understand some of the problems at grass root level of Managers and Recruiters / Sourcers. Well, we are not here to point out who is right and who is wrong, but trying to understand the gaps during this entire process of hiring via Social Media.

Let’s take an example (Examples help me understand better  All Companies have a Recruitment team, while some do have a separate sourcing team which supports an Army of Recruiters. So, if a Recruitment Manager assigns a requirement, they usually expect a quick closure (Based on the mandate of the Delivery Manager / Project urgency etc). A recruiter / Sourcer may be working on multiple requirements and hence needs to submit resumes quickly. When I say multiple, it means on an average 10-20 requirements Let’s come back to the point. Now that the recruiter / sourcers are working on skills such as Java / Mainframe / Manual Testing, they are bound to use Job Portals. And this is where the Manager / Management need to understand that it is not possible to hunt resumes via Social Media for such skills, as Networking does take time. And one cannot just wake up one day and start Social Recruiting.

Well, hiring via Social Media should not be a mandate given by the management, nor can it work for all companies. Again it depends on which technologies / skills that the company is hiring into. Social Media Hiring plans and strategy vary from company to company. So one needs to be very careful while getting into this territory. It is often said in the HR world that best practices must be shared / followed. But not necessary what works for “A” company might also work for “B” company. Hence, first it is important to look at your strengths and then decided if you want to venture into Social Media. Well, some of you might say that Social Media and Hiring now goes hand in hand. You are right, but to what degree, it again depends on Industry, Company, Technology, Products etc and also on Management.

The other basic aspect that one needs to focus is on the manner in which Managers encourage Recruiters / Sourcers to use Social Media. Again it starts with basics such as, Does your company have a Social Media Policy in place!! Managers need to identify resources that are passionate to learn something new and then get them into this area. It does not make an impact if you blindly identify resources to get into the world of Social Media Hiring. They might not enjoy it or might not be comfortable doing it.

Again there is no right or wrong way to use Social Media for hiring. All you need to know what works for you and the company. Eagerly looking forward to your views on this topic. Time to share the best practices 😉 (Some might work for me too).

Kunjal Kamdar has been involved in sourcing for the last eight years, having worked in both recruitment and sourcing capacities. Currently, he works with Quinnox Consultancy Services in India as a Talent Acquisition Group Lead. Kunjal enjoys sourcing and using Social Media to expand and innovate new channels in the recruitment process. Blogging is his real passion, and he in turn loves sharing his passion for sourcing and social media with others in the recruiting community. Check out his blog at Rambling Recruiter’s Blog. Connect with him on LinkedIn and on twitter @kunjal23.